My Father

I am trying to trace down my father's whereabouts during
WW2. We used to have discussions around the war as I am very
interested in the history of the war. He used to tell me that
he was a pilot and flew in Egypt and Italy. Unfortunately he
passed away in 1990 but his memory always lived on in
me.

Till recently I was convinced he was a pilot although some
stories he told me did not really make sense. He told me that
he was downed over the Mediterranean Sea and was only rescued
some days later. This was his excuse why he had a hate for
swimming in the sea. He also used to be very much to himself,
alone with not many friends. Towards the end of last year I
tried to trace down his war record. To my amazement I had to
find out that he was actually a gunner for the 1st Anti
Aircraft Brigade South Africa. This I must add, I was not
ashamed at the stories he told, I was more proud of him. To
be a POW for 4 years and come back takes some doing and is
proof of a man with character.

According to his record he started off in the service in
1938 as a gunner for the South African Artillery. He was
posted to the 1st Artillery Battery in June 1938. In April
1940 he was posted to 2nd Artillery Battery. In June 1940 he
disembarked in Mombasa. In December 1940 he was posted to 1st
Anti Aircraft Brigade SAF MFF UDF. In April 1941 he embarked
at Mombasa for Port Said on the ship “Niew
Zeeland” where he arrived May 1941. From here I do not
have much only that he was captured on the 23 November 1941
with the battle of Sidi Rezegh. Where and how he was captured
is what really interests me. He was sent to Italy, could he
have been on one of the ships that were torpedoed by the
British? That will fit into the sea experience he had. There
is mention of two camps in his record Camp 66 and Camp 52. He
was also wounded in Italy while being a POW. What happened?
From Italy he went to Germany. It is suspect he was in Stalag
VII A but I do not have confirmation of that. What I do have
is a company list from an Unterföhring
work kommando listing where his name appears as a medic.
I can not get confirmation as to where the POW was sent to
work.

After his release in 1945 he was involved in an incident
where he had to shoot a fellow South African in self defense.
There were witnesses to the incident and I could not get much
from his service records.

I am including some of the documentation that I have
received so far. If there is anybody that can recall or have
any information about my father they can contact me on
e-mail